Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

8 hours until the party.

Tristan felt like he had been carrying bricks for 8 hours, not coding.

Maybe stealing a phone would've been easier mentally, but much riskier. He'd have to find the location of a person with admin-level access to the Urban Mirage Club office app, then get close enough to steal their phone…

This would either require breaking and entering their house, or trying to catch them between their home and their job. Where they traveled to by car.

No, Tristan just coded more.

It took a frustrating amount of time, but with his knowledge of TeamFlow's vulnerabilities, Tristan rerouted the two-factor-authentication code to a burner phone number.

A phone and SIM-card that he had to buy in haste, in the middle of the night.

Finally, Tristan entered the administrator login and password, then the authentication code, and…

He was in!

The Urban Mirage's organization system lied in the palm of his hand. With his governing skill, Tristan easily navigated through its many tabs.

Past kitchen and bar suppliers list, past the collection of HR files, Tristan reached the event planning page for the upcoming party.

The guest list was there, thankfully.

Big Rocket's stage name and real name were here, as well as were those of a bunch of other celebrities and influencers. Besides them, there were names of people Tristan never heard of, but who likely were various industry specialists or personal friends of invited celebrities. Your next read awaits at m v|l-e'-NovelBin.net

There were around two hundred names, separated by tiers of priority, with some personal notes such as "shellfish allergy".

"Tristan Hayes" fitted nicely at the end of the list, with all the unimportant people.

Although it'd be nice to make new useful acquaintances in a place like that for Tristan Gemello, if someone recognized him and realized that no one actually invited him, Tristan could be in trouble.

Besides, what he wanted to talk with Big Rocket about was not a showbiz matter.

Tristan left the Urban Mirage Club's system, carefully erased all the traces of him being there, and closed the laptop.

His brain was fried.

His hacking skill rose by about fifteen points during the last two days.

Tristan set the laptop aside and stumbled toward his hotel bed. As soon as he fell on it, his eyes closed.

He didn't fall asleep, but the state of blissful not-thinking was very close to it.

***

5 hours until the party.

Tristan jolted on his bed with a start.

He didn't technically sleep, but he really lost the sense of time.

Now he had too little of it.

'Shit! Five hours… I need to get party clothes to wear!'

Tristan had them, of course, but all his party outfits would stand out enough to be recognized by Nel, who helped Tristan buy them. Nel won't be at the party, but there will be plenty of people making photos and videos.

The chances of this were small, but experience with Pierce taught Tristan to be more careful.

But of course, he couldn't just leave.

Instead, he stumbled into Derek in the hotel's hall.

"Mr. Hayes! I'm glad you see you really weren't sick. I have finally arranged a place where you can properly rehearse in this city. But… that's not where you are heading in a hurry, right?"

Tristan suppressed a sigh.

"No. I have a personal matter to deal with. But that is great news, Mr. Derek."

Derek narrowed his eyes, although his usual kind expression didn't fall.

"You aren't going to do anything reckless, I hope. It's easy to think that nothing can ever happen to you, but there are so many people to whom it does! At least… take a pair of your security team with you. Just to not get mugged, at the very least."

Tristan paused, then smiled.

"Yeah, I will. Thank you, Mr. Derek. Don't worry, I will come back before tomorrow morning if all goes well!"

As soon as Tristan's back turned to him, Derek let out an almost inaudible sigh.

He was sure Tristan was about to do something unwise, and yet unable to stand in his way. Not only because of his boss's insistence that Tristan Gemello is kept happy, but because Derek didn't have so much will.

His experience in reading people told him with 100% surety that to stand in Tristan's way was akin to standing in front of an advancing road roller.

Those who didn't move away were either extremely brave or extremely stupid. The road roller would flatten both.

***

2 hours before the party.

"What if Gemello tells Derek that we aren't actually escorting him?" Owen asked.

He and Trey were two of the four subordinates Tristan took with him to Los Angeles, and now took with him to make sure Big Rocket didn't run away even if it meant taking him by force.

Their best quality was their absolute loyalty, and their second quality was a lot of street smarts and experience with gangster life.

"He won't."

Owen nodded and didn't ask further questions. Both he and Trey were dressed casually, hiding guns under their clothing.

Tristan Hayes was dressed for a party, but modestly enough to not stun anyone with his charm without even trying. He was going to be subtle, after all.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

'Maybe I should put more points into stealth for this. No, I'd rather keep them in reserve for now.'

"Let's hope you will just waste your time standing near the back exit," Tristan told his companions while hailing a taxi. "Now, come on. We have to start moving toward the party if we want to get through the traffic jams in time for its beginning."

***

1 hour before the party.

"I understand. Yes. Thank you for not telling me that tomorrow."

The assassin ended the call and stood from his ambush spot.

It was going to be really annoying if he was going to be late to the meeting with his target again, but the assassin, who might or might not have been No Hope, had a good feeling about this.

He hailed a taxi, and when the driver asked "Where to?", the assassin's reply was, "The Urban Mirage".